8 Reasons Why Deer Meat Tastes Bad - I Am Hunter

5. Poor hygiene

In the aftermath of Covid-19, it seems like the whole world has become obsessed with hygiene. You can’t walk into a store without having to douse yourself in hand sanitiser.

Yet, out in the field, basic hygiene often flies out the window. I have seen guys use the same knife to gut, skin and butcher an animal, without even bothering to wash the blade or their hands in between.

Not only is this one of the quickest ways to ensure your meat is contaminated with guts, blood, hair and bacteria, it’s also likely to result in a nasty infection if you cut yourself with the blade.

Personally, I keep a field knife in my pack for gutting, and have a pack of knives in my car that I use to skin and butcher the carcass. You can use the same knife for all three tasks, but make sure to wash the blade and clean your hands thoroughly in between stages. I always keep a pack of baby wipes in my pack for a quick, easy clean down in the field. But even some hand sanitiser, or a bottle of water and some tissues would do.

Make sure your blade is sharp too. While a dull blade isn’t going to affect the taste, it does increase your chance of making a mistake like piercing the gut or intestines, or cutting yourself!

6. Breaking bad(ly)

You don’t need a power saw to butcher a deer. In fact, I highly recommend you stay away from the power tools unless you have a food-grade meat saw. The last thing you want is a mixture of bone fragments and sawdust peppering your meat!

All you need to break down and butcher a carcass is a good quality knife with a sharp blade.

It is important to keep the meat as clean as possible during this stage. If I cannot hang the carcass while I butcher it, I lay it on a clean tarpaulin or drop sheet on the ground, removing as much hair, dirt and blood as I can from each portion of meat before wrapping in a game bag or putting in a plastic bag.

If I am butchering the meat at home, I wipe the meat down with a damp cloth and a vinegar/water solution and pat dry before vacuum sealing the meat into bags ready for ageing.

Cut away and discard any meat that is bruised, contaminated or questionable.

It is also important to remove the scent glands.

Deer have seven major scent glands. These are located in their forehead, under the eyes (pre-orbital), in the nose (nasal), inside their mouth (salivary), between the toes (interdigital), on the back of the hind legs (tarsal) and on the front of the rear legs (metatarsal). Male deer also have a scent gland in their penis (preputial).

The main ones you need to worry about when butchering are the glands in the legs: the tarsal and the metatarsal glands. The tarsal glands are located on the inside of the rear leg, just above the knee joint. These glands secrete fatty lipids that interact with deer urine to create a unique odour that serves as the deer’s ID card. The metatarsal gland is further down the rear leg and helps regular body temperature.

You can see these on the meat as greyish, gelatinous discs. If you have ever cut into one, you’ll know they don’t smell great – so leaving them in the meat is going to affect the flavour. Simply cut out and you remove a lot of that strong taste.

7. Skipping the ageing process

Whenever hunters tell us that venison is tough, we usually ask how long they age the meat for. Cue the blank stare or the long-winded spiel about how unnecessary it is, how it doesn’t make a lick of difference to how venison tastes, and how it rots venison.

And while hunters are free to do as they please with the meat they harvest, I have always considered foregoing the ageing process to be bad science!

Meat goes through several metamorphises after death. Without human intervention, the body bloats, then stiffens (rigor mortis), then begins to decompose and rot.

But cooling the carcass and keeping it at a regular temperature breaks the decomposition cycle and instead, creates magic!

As the meat relaxes after rigor mortis, the cool temperatures allow the natural enzymes in the meat to break down the muscles, sinews and connective tissue (collagen). This ageing process tenderises the meat and removes a lot of the gamey flavours. It’s what sets good and bad meat apart.

When it comes to ageing meat, there are two ways you can do it:wet ageor dry age.

To wet age your venison, butcher and debone your meat into prime cuts, then vacuum seal these into food grade plastic bags, removing as much oxygen as you can from the bag. I double seal our bags to ensure a tight seal. Store in the refrigerator.

The longer you leave the meat, the more the fibres will break down and the more tender the meat will become. Young deer need 3 – 5 days, while older deer can be left to age for 1 – 2 weeks. I have accidentally left meat in the fridge for 4 weeks, and it was beautiful.

Remove from the refrigerator at the end of the ageing process. Check each bag carefully for any leaks. If the seal has broken, remove the meat from the bag and examine it. If you notice any bad smells or discolouration, discard the meat. If it smells good, place in a clean bag and reseal.

Meat is now ready to eat or to go in the freezer.

Because meat is wet-aged in its own juices, there is very little wastage or shrinkage. This makes wet-ageing a cost-effective and efficient way to age meat. In fact, the vast majority of the meat you buy from your butcher or supermarket has been wet-aged.

With dry ageing, the carcass or quarters are hung to dry in a cool room or a cool basement or shed with plenty of airflow (if using the latter, make sure the meat is safe from bugs and rodents). Optimal temperature should be above freezing but below 4 degrees Celsius. Some people modify refrigerators to serve as mini cool rooms, or you can buy special humidity controlled devices to dry age smaller portions of meat, similar to a wine fridge (and just as expensive).

As meat dry-ages, it purges moisture, creating a more meaty, robust flavour. It isn’t gamey but ends up being like a good quality beef flavour, which is why dry-aged meat is highly sought after and most often found at expensive steak houses. Because the process purges moisture, dry aged meat can lose up to 30% of its body weight. A dry crusty fungus also forms around the meat. This isn’t rotten. Think of it like the crust that forms on cheese, protecting all the juicy goodness inside. However, the crust needs to be cut off prior to use and does add to the perceived waste of dry-ageing.

Age for 7 – 14 days, as per wet ageing process.

I have personally tried both wet ageing and dry ageing venison, and while I love the flavour of dry-aged meat, I don’t really have the set-up at home. I find wet-ageing to be simple and less prone to getting it wrong.

We age all meat we hunt: venison, wallaby, kangaroo, rabbits, even ducks. The only meat we don’t age are the off-cuts we use in mince, as the mincing blades are pretty good at breaking down the tough meat and fibres.

8. Choosing the wrong meat for your recipe

Some hunters take the backstraps (loin) and relegate the rest of the meat to the mince pile (or worse, dog food).

Others use all the meat but often choose the wrong cut and then complain about poor results.

There are also lots of opinions on deer fat. Many hunters will tell you it tastes bad and, while that statement can be true, not all deer fat is created equal.

Deer fat is high in Omega-3 fatty acids. It contains high levels of stearic acid, the fat that reduces bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol.

Stearic acid coats the mouth and gives you that mouth feel that comes from eating fat. Some people like that. Others hate it. If you’re in the latter group, try cooking venison with something acidic like tomatoes, fruits, or even wine, to cut through the fatty mouth feel.

The high levels of Omega 3 fatty acid do make deer fat susceptible to going rancid if left exposed to air (the same applies to pork fat). If you are wet-ageing your meat, you can leave some of the fat on and there shouldn’t be any bad tastes. However, if the meat wasn’t chilled fast enough, or it is going to be exposed to oxygen (either through dry-ageing meat or if you are using the meat for dry-aged salamis or cured meats, you might be better off cutting off the fat and using a replacement. If in doubt, cut it out.

It is also important to choose the right cut of meat for the recipe or style of cooking. Prime cuts of venison are usually cooked quickly and served on the rare side. The longer you cook a prime cut, the tougher and chewier it is going to get.

Use leaner prime cuts like backstrap, tenderloin or rump as steaks or in stir-fries. Rump is also good for dried meats likebiltongor jerky.

Don’t forget the heart. It is super tender – even more so than tenderloins.

Neck meat is an under-rated meat that is super soft and naturally tender. This makes it good as both a prime cut, or for slow-cooking and curries.

If roasting venison, a rump or shoulder cut with a layer of fat is a good choice. If choosing a leaner cut, be sure to add some fat to the cooking pan or you’ll end up with a dry lump of tasteless meat.

Most other cuts require longer, slower cooking methods to break down the fibres and connective tissue. The best choices for slow cooking, casseroles and curries is the meat brisket, front shoulder or shanks. The higher fat content and collagen in these cuts also produces a lovely, rich sauce or gravy. As already mentioned, neck meat is also great in slow-cooked dishes.

If you do use a leaner cut, like rump, choose a creamy sauce or add fat or bacon, as slow cooked rump can end up dry and tasteless.

Sausageand mince needs fat. If you are mincing a lean cut, like rump, you need to add between 20 and 30% fat to the mix (unless you like your food to taste like sawdust and to fall apart). We mince the off-cuts from between the ribs, the belly meat, the flank, sirloin and top-round and add extra pork or beef fat to the mix. Failing that, you could mix it with bacon.

Some of the best deer fat you will find is the thin, lacy fat membrane that covers the entrails – orcaul fat. Use this to wrap leaner cuts of meat, such asheartor rump. You can also use it to wrap rissoles or sausages in.

For more ideas on cooking wild game meats, check out the recipes in our Game Kitchen.